#NYAIS I just spent a couple of hours crawling in and around a Mercedes SLS AMG prototype. The interior was finished, but the outside wore much of the same camouflage as the cars we've seen running around the Nurburgring for months (notice the black tape on the red car above). Photos were not allowed, nor could we open the hood or trunk, but everything else was fair game.
Now we've already published a number of stories on this car, so learning new info with such restrictions wasn't easy. Here's the new stuff we walked away with:
1) The windows are power and go all the way down into the gullwing doors.
2) The tailpipes are fakes, like the ones on the Lexus IS-F and Ferrari California.
3) Tire spec: Michelin Pilot Super Sport (Treadware Rating 220)
4) The seat frames are magnesium.
5) There will be a carbon brake rotor option.
6) The doors are manual, but the seats in this prototype were power adjustable.
7) Top speed is 315 kph. You do the math.
8) Weight? 1620 Kg (3,571 pounds).
9) The desirable Motorsports race seat option won't be available in America because of their lack of side airbags. The CLK63 AMG Black and SL65 AMG Black didn't get them either.
10) Worried about the gullwing doors, the U.S. government said one of the doors had to be easily opened if the car was upside-down. Mercedes engineers went back to the lab and devised an ingenious system that allows both doors to open when the car is on its roof. Like something out of James Bond, small explosive devices blow the door bolts and allow the doors to open. No, I'm not kidding. -- Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief
altimadude00 says:
01:34 PM, 04/ 8/09
Explosive bolts on a car? They're taking this "designed after airplanes" thing to a whole new level!
I don't think anyone will mind that the tailpipes are fake.
tekknikal says:
03:14 PM, 04/ 8/09
"3) Tire spec: Michelin Pilot Super Sport (Treadware Rating 220)"
did you mean pilot sport / ps2? or is this an all new michelin tire?
greenpony says:
04:37 PM, 04/ 8/09
In reality, I wonder how often cars find themselves upside down.
HassanK says:
08:01 AM, 04/ 9/09
THE TAILPIPES ARE FAKE??!?!?! NOOOOOOO...!!! That takes down my excitement for this car that much more. Just like it ruined the IS-F for me a little bit.
throwback says:
08:36 AM, 04/ 9/09
"There will be a carbon brake rotor option"
OPTION? For what this car will cost these should be standard. Even a ZR-1 gives them to you for 100K.
estreka says:
02:44 PM, 04/ 9/09
Fake tailpipes are a big minus for me too. Beyond that, I'm loving the revival of the gullwing.
oldmanshirt says:
02:16 AM, 04/10/09
So to keep you safe during a rollover, they're going to install explosives in the doors? I guess that sounds like the kind of logical solution the US Government would inspire.
hondacura4 says:
03:51 PM, 04/10/09
"So to keep you safe during a rollover, they're going to install explosives in the doors?"
Mercedes does what it can to meet safety regulations while not compromising their own designs.
Correct me if Im worng but Mercedes refused to raise its hoodlines to meet pedestrian standards. Mercedes instead used a system that automatically raises the hood up when the system detects a light collision.
I guess they had no choice but to use the explosive bolts on a Gullwing as if they didnt it wouldnt be a Gullwing.